In this TED Talk, Dan Ariely (I think his name is), brings up that in many ways when we make a decision, there are so many other factors that we are barely even able to decide for ourselves. He began by using visual illusions to show us our minds can play tricks on us and visual distractions/misconceptions are common but so are cognitive versions, it just not many think of what might factor into a decision before they make one. Factors such as what the question looks like or how its worded, he used the example of at the DMV when they ask you if you would like to be an organ donor. Countries who used the wording "check this box if you don't want to be an organ donor" had an incredibly larger amount of donors than the countries who worded the question "Check the box if you would like to be an organ donor". People would rather not put in the effort to check the box, so whatever the default is, thats what goes. He then went on to speak about how sometimes a third option can influence or change our minds based on the comparison. One could use this make one option sound like a deal or to make one option sound/look better. Ariely used the example of a subscription of some sort where one option was they could mail it to you for $65 lets say, the second option was they could email it you for $125 and the last was you could have both for $125. Now the company that did this thought it was a mistake and took it down when he pointed it out, but he then took it and did a study. Most people picked the more expensive option of both because it looked like a deal in comparison to the second option, but when he took out the second option, most people chose the first, cheaper option. I believe he was trying to show us that we need to analyze more closely why we chose that decision, instead of just letting other factors influence what we choose, but ultimately it is impossible to see things that way as we make the decision, just like even after you proof a visual illusion wrong, your brain still sees it incorrectly.
This relates to Tragedy in many ways, but I am going to use Oedipus as an example here. Oedipus did everything he possibly could to get away from the prophecy but ultimately failed because he couldn't make the decisions on his own. He had influence, in this case from "fate" if you will, he was destined on that path from the moment he was born and even though he thought he was changing it with his own decisions, he was following it exactly.
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